Miles Corwin has produced a really, really engrossing and suspenseful story about the Los Angeles streets, cops and corrupt officials. And this, believe it or not, is his first novel! What will his second be like? There will be a second, won't there, Mr. Corwin? Please!

An ex-cop is murdered in LA and Lt. Frank Duffy calls back his best detective, who had quit the force eleven months before. Jewish Ash Levine, feeling responsible for a witness's murder, finds that life is hard when that guilt is always with him. But he needs useful work, so he retrieves his badge and hits the streets to find the killer.

He finds that it's not as easy as anticipated. He runs into more and more people who could be witnesses but decline to put their lives on the line by testifying against a possible gang member. Readers join Ash as he delves deeper into the murder and begins to realize that all was not on the up and up with the ex-cop.

The plot twists and turns, each time putting Ash on the line. As if it weren't enough that unknowns are out to do him harm, he encounters racism within his own department.

The finality of death is explored as the reader feels that this is true life he/she is reading. Concern for Ash is never far from the reader's mind. We come close to losing him several times and I was mentally picking out what I would wear to his viewing to show my respect. Kind of Blue is a good, good book. Not to be missed.

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